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Prima Magazine have sorted out their kitchens, and have given out their great tips for organising!
They used STORE’s Mesh Stacking Shelves to organise their crockery in the cupboard! Great tip for increasing the amount of storage space you have inside your cupboards!
Prima Magazine recently wrote an article on their 5 favourite coat stands! And luckily they loved the Saturnus Coat Stand as much we do, describing it as colourful and retro!
For £68 it was one of the cheapest Coat Stands that Prima Magazine picked, so get your hands on one now. And start hanging your coats up with one!
This time last year I wrote a post mentioning that there’s a school of thought amongst professional declutterers that says you should try to treat your space with a little more respect if you really want to take control of your clutter.
The theory goes that the inside of your home is a reflection of you and the organisation within should reflect the life you want to live. Getting organised and decluttering your pad could therefore be the answer to enjoying the space you live in this New Year and maybe also allow you to take a little more control of your life.
With this in mind, if you’re one of the 21% of UK residents who’s New Year’s Resolution is to be a bit tidier and more organised in 2011 here’s a few tips to help:
Some of our shop customers looking for storage solutions to solve their clutter problems confuse being organised with being perfect. Others confuse being organised with being neat. There’s also plenty of neat freaks out there (including myself!) who are also disorganised. What you actually need to strive for is simply being neater than you are currently.
Doing something practical to declutter your space whether it’s your office desk or your entire home is going to make you feel a whole lot better about yourself this New Year but if you’re not the kind of person who’s going to keep things super-tidy then don’t pretend you’re going to change overnight. Instead try to find small simple ways to effectively manage the clutter you create on a daily basis. For example, something as simple as a small plastic storage box or container to store and manage the daily post is simple but very effective.
The Three Box RuleWhether you’re intending to spend the entire weekend tackling a room full of clutter or simply wanting to reorganise your shoe storage collection, start your de-cluttering in bit sized chunks so you don’t feel overwhelmed. Don’t try and re-organise the entire house in one go but concentrate your efforts in one area trying not to “zig-zig de-clutter” by moving things from one space to another creating even more mess!
The 3 Box Rule is a great trick we often share with our STORE customers and it goes something like this:
When decluttering and reorganising a room, put each item you move into one of three cardboard boxes,
Definitely Keep Box – This is the “I’m 100% sure” temporary storage box for items that are definitely being returned into the space you’re decluttering.
Attempt to Sell Box – Would you rather continue to hoard that shiny new squash racket you’ve not used in the last 2-years since trying to get fit or have the cash? If you haven’t used it in the last 12-18 months then it’s time to go! Ebay, car-boot sale, postcard on the notice board at work, etc. etc. just be decisive and be realistic…you’ve never used it so let someone else enjoy it and you can enjoy the cash!
Charity / Recycle Box – Have a good look through your Attempt to Sell box and be realistic, some of your decluttered items may just be a bit too tatty to sell. Instead, why not take them to the local charity shop or donate them to your local primary school etc. and if they’re just tatty or worn-out then recycle.
Wrong!…Last year Sheila’s Wheels car insurance undertook a survey of 2,000 UK residents that suggested our will power ran-out on average in less than 12 days! If you think you’re going to falter try reading my post on Staying Organised after you’ve Decluttered or follow this simple tip which I gleaned from a storage professional across the pond:
Think of that pile of unopened post or stack of untouched paperwork on your desk that needs organising in the same way as you think of your kitchen sink. Most of us (even STORE’s warehouse manager Kevin) have a natural tolerance for how long we leave dishes cluttering-up the sink and draining board. For some people it’s a day or two and others can’t stand to go to bed at night without doing the washing-up. Have this same tolerance threshold to your household post or paperwork: open, read, action and decisively discard or file and you’ll notice the differences within a few days.
The more you perform this simple decluttering task, the more your awareness will grow of better organisation and the longer your New Year’s resolution to be a bit more organised might last.
This transferable organisational skill can be used in other areas of your home too and over time you’ll naturally become more conscious about what you bring into the house and indeed what you spend your hard earned pennies on. You see, decluttering and reorganising is a money-saver too!
Finally, a very Happy & Organised New Year from all at STORE !
Last September I wrote an article for Architects DataFile Magazine titled “What’s in store for storage?” Whilst it was primarily a paper aimed at encouraging architects to include more storage space in the homes they design, some really interesting stats. came out from the research and I thought it may be interesting to publish an extract here on STORE’s blog:
In the last 30 years, UK home ownership has doubled. Whilst those in Parliament may be cooing at this statistic, living and functioning in 21st century homes, which are being built 40% smaller than those of 80 years ago, presents one major dilemma for architects: how to use that space – or lack of space – effectively.
Those in Whitehall may have to shoulder some of the responsibility for our cramped living conditions with planning policy insisting on more densely packed housing, but property owners must also take some of the blame. Consumers are acquiring more and more possessions compared to previous generations, for whom the must-have bargain was secondary to the functional necessities in the home.
Smaller spaces are a real challenge for architects, but the answer may be simpler than it seems. Consumers are actively seeking flexible, timesaving storage solutions, but, in light of the ongoing credit crunch, at an affordable price. As a result, there is, in fact, a rare opportunity for architects to easily and cheaply deliver the storage solutions that clients want. There are a growing number of brands in the home storage and de-cluttering arena, developing interesting products to solve the storage / clutter and space dilemma.
The growth trends in the storage market are no longer in the products aimed at solving a simple issue, such as where to store an umbrella or bunch of keys. Instead, the demand is for more comprehensive, whole room solutions.
Wardrobes and compact dressing rooms are important to the future of the sector, as is an organised utility room or effective boot room storage – straightforward ideas that few architects are currently incorporating into their designs.
Gone are the days of satisfying a client with a simple clothes rod and shelf inside their wardrobe. Modern wardrobe storage systems have to be flexible and adapt to the customer’s ever changing needs – for example, the most desirable wardrobes have innovative and efficient storage spaces for shoe storage, clothes rails and accessories, while remaining compact and maintaining the ability to add or change the space whenever this is required.
Increasingly, value buying is at the top of the consumer agenda. The savvy consumer is now demanding more for their money – everything they buy must have a real use and worth. Despite, or perhaps because of, the pressures of the current economic climate, the ‘throwaway’ culture for cheap goods is in decline – homeowners are now looking for products that combine good quality with reasonable prices and, in terms of homeware in particular, that will stand the test of time.
Home storage solutions have to work harder, be multifunctional, and be cleverly utilised in all available space, yet they must still look great. The market leaders in the affordable and attractive home furnishings sector are, as might be expected, the ever innovative Scandinavians, who continue to produce a plethora of good quality, well engineered modular storage ranges such as elfa shelving that satisfy not only this need, but also the requirement for a stylish yet cost effective solution at the same time.
Midway between the ‘cheap and cheerful’ and exclusive high-end design, sit the ‘middle shelf’ brands, which offer quality, simple yet stylish storage solutions at an affordable price – ideal in the current property market, which is forcing architects and developers to make homes look fantastic on a tighter budget than ever, given that price rises are no longer guaranteed, or even expected. Among these are one or two real gems, offering great modular products that look equally at home dressed-up inside a fitted wardrobe or dressing rooms or in a raw functional state within a utility room, pantry or garage.
However, whatever the state of their finances, it will be difficult for consumers to let go entirely of the aspirational look that has dominated home makeover and property development programmes for so long. The key ingredients demanded by the current market are flexibility and value, but style will always have a part to play, particularly to get optimum prices when the time comes to sell. To impress developers and end users alike, effective storage solutions are something to be considered as an integral element of any project – and not just an afterthought.
This article was first published by Simon Glanville in the Architects DataFile Magazine, September 2009. Simon Glanville is the Managing Director of Förvara Ltd, Elfa® distributor UK. Förvara Ltd is a group company of STORE, specialists in home storage and organisational products.